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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: spring · degree · coach · row · field · cabinet · prune · file

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. What do you think of the new ________________?
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. prune — to trim
  5. degree — an amount
  6. file — a line of people
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. file — a document
  9. row — to paddle
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. file — a tool
  12. spring — a coil
  13. degree — temperature
  14. row — a line
  15. cabinet — a cupboard
  16. field — farmland
  17. prune — to trim
  18. coach — pulled by horses
  19. field — for sport
  20. field — a subject
  21. degree — from a university
  22. spring — of water
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. spring — the season

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com